As soon as we looked at a picture of the new Sony PSP Go our mouths fell. It is a slider, with the traditional Sony gaming controls sliding out from under the screen. It is smaller, slicker, has more of the surface given over to a screen ‘ and Sony has got rid of the fated UMD Universal Media Disk, which was really just a mini DVD format for video and games, and is switching emphasis to downloading games ‘ so why did our collective mouths fall?
It was because we realized in just that simply image, that this was a device designed to keep the Sony faithful happy. It was NOT a device designed to jump on the iPod Touch bandwagon and re-invent portable gaming by using touch.
One games writer we know described it as a ‘tweak’ on the Sony design, and yes it is Sony as usual, evolving existing devices, not creating a new revolution.
The full name is that PSPgo or PSP-N1000. It is for delivery on October 1 pretty much globally though some reports emphasized it would go to the US first. Pricing is $249 there and and €249 here and ‘26,800 in Japan.
The new device is being positioned as co-existing with the existing PSP-3000 which means that the UMD isn’t dead, it is just dying and won’t appear on the PSPgo..
Sony has added 16 GB of Flash memory instead of the UMD, so that games and video can be downloaded and stored, instead of carried around on an expensive, proprietary disk, which can get lost or scratched. Sony will now position the PlayStation Network as the natural delivery point for games and content, quietly upsetting the millions of retailers around the world which have made a living out of selling its games in the past ‘ but it is a move that Sony has to make and should have made long ago. It means that Sony will be writing online contracts with lots of new suppliers between now and the Fall, and launching lots more content on the PlayStation Network to ensure that existing content suppliers don’t suffer from the sudden loss of UMD retail sales. The PSPgo will be available in just Piano Black and Pearl White.
Access to the PlayStation Store can be directly over the built-in
Wi-Fi or through a PS3 or via the new Media Go converting application on a PC.
There are many improvements to the system, but largely it sticks with the new Sony worldview about supporting most formats and no longer pushing proprietary music and video codecs only. It has shipped in the brilliant Sense Me automatic playlist application from the Walkman devices, has Bluetooth for connecting headphones and headsets; gives access to the standard Sony XrossMediaBar while in mid-game (the game sleeps). It has video out to a TV, a new viewing/charging cradle.
The new version weighs screen is now 158 grams, 31 grama lighter than its predecessor, has a 3.8 inch LCD screen (as opposed to a 4.3 inch screen with identical resolution)
We are sure that the new PSP will sell exceptionally well among PSP lovers, but less sure that in this touch based age that it will garner new support from further afield.